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A5
news
November 30, 2014 www.guardian.co.tt Sunday Guardian
RHONDOR DOWLAT
Thuggery as a possible motive for
attacks on foreigners to the island of
Tobago---including the recent murder
of German couple, Herbertus, 71, and
his wife, Birgid Keil, 74, who were
brutally chopped to death along Min-
ister s Bay in Bacolet---may not be
ruled out as police continue their
investigations.
The couple were murdered a stone s
throw away from their residence of 16
years at Bacolet Crescent, last week
Saturday.
The Sunday Guardian returned to
the Bacolet area yesterday and received
information, from undisclosed sources,
that foreigners who are interested in
purchasing land and property in remote
and residential areas in the sister isle
are asked to make a down payment of
ten per cent of the value and are required
to make the full payment within a stip-
ulated time period.
Sources believe that they are then
forced to leave the country by one
means or another before the time period
is up, so that they lose their down
payment. They are often threatened,
attacked or in some cases murdered.
When told about the information the
Sunday Guardian received from sources,
ACP Simon Lendore of Homicide said
he could not comment directly on this
particular motive. He assured that all
information and/or leads will be inves-
tigated.
Lendore, during an interview yes-
terday, assured that investigators were
pursuing every lead. He said several
statements were already recorded.
He, however, added that there were
improvements to be made with respect
to the hotline numbers 635-1649 or
639-2515. A $100,000. Reward is being
offered for information which can lead
to an arrest and conviction of the person
or people responsible for the murder
of the elderly couple.
Sunday Guardian understands that
relatives of the murdered couple are
currently in the country and seeking
to have independent autopsies done on
the bodies.
Lendore, however, said he was unable
to make any comment on that latest
development.
RENUKA SINGH
Works and Infrastructure Min-
ister Dr Surujrattan Rambachan
says he will no longer be entertain-
ing questions on the subject of
interference in National Infrastruc-
ture Development Company
(Nidco) board-level decisions.
Rambachan is also refusing to
directly comment on the questions
regarding any collusion with second
ranked bidder for the Curepe Inter-
change Project, Lutchmeesingh
Transport Company (LTC).
The Sunday Guardian was
informed that days before Nidco cut
ties with international construction
giant Vinci Construction Grands
Projets, the Nidco board met at its
planned September 4 session but
two days earlier, on September 2,
held an impromptu session which
excluded Nidco President Dr Carson
Charles.
When asked if he attended a
meeting with Nidco s board on Sep-
tember 2, Rambachan again said he
was not answering any questions
about the issue.
"I have said before that I have no
comment to make on this issue any-
more," Rambachan said yesterday.
When asked about the speculation
of collusion between him and LTC,
Rambachan chuckled.
"Collusion? That is a laugh. I have
made it very clear that Nidco eval-
uation team makes recommenda-
tions to the board, and it is the board
that awards the contracts," he said.
When pressed further about his
alleged meeting with the Nidco
board on September 2, Rambachan
said:
"Anyone can say what they want,
I have nothing to say about that."
Fickle negotiations
The Sunday Guardian obtained
copies of correspondence from Nidco
to the Ministry of Works and Infra-
structure and from Nidco to Vinci,
which shows two different pictures.
Just weeks after lauding Vinci as the
best pick for the multi-million dollar
Curepe Interchange project, Nidco
made an abrupt about face and
dropped the international company
from the negotiation process.
In an letter to the ministry s per-
manent secretary Isaac James,
Charles defends Vinci Construction
as the premier choice for the road-
works on August 29, 2014.
Charles, in that letter to James,
said "for the record," a joint com-
mittee of engineers, technical eval-
uators and attorneys concluded that
Vinci "ranked as the first bidder,
notwithstanding the fact that their
bid price was higher than those of
the two other bidders."
Charles also detailed meetings
with Vinci, saying that the interna-
tional construction company
dropped its bid price twice in order
to remain competitive. According to
the letter, Vinci s initial tender price
stood at $522 million and after nego-
tiations dipped to $469 million. After
further negotiations, it dropped fur-
ther to $454 million and then to
$442 million.
"This may be considered from an
engineering point of view to be rel-
atively close to the Revised Engineer s
Estimate of $391, considering that
an additional $17 million is required
to meet the Employers Requirements
(thus taking the estimated cost to
approximately $408 million)," the
letter stated.
However, the Sunday Guardian
learned that days later, after the
Independence day holiday weekend,
the Nidco board called an impromp-
tu meeting on September 2, despite
having an official board meeting
carded for September 4.
It was between those two meet-
ings that the tone of the discussion
with Vinci Construction changed.
After several negotiations, Vinci
offered $442,101060 which dis-
tanced the company s ranking from
its closest competitor, Lutch-
meesingh Transport Corporation
(LTC) by four points instead of the
initial two point difference. With
the new offered price, Vinci s overall
score moved from 92.68 to 94.98,
while LTC scores remained at 90.75.
Days after the two board meetings
and despite Vinci s improved rank-
ing, on September 9, Nidco wrote
to Vinci saying it could not be
accepted and went further to with-
draw its own counter-offer, leaving
Vinci barred from negotiations and
discussions.
"We advise that we are unable to
agree to or accept your offer. We
further advise that the counter-offer
of TT$430,000,000 inclusive of
VAT (Value Added Tax) and provi-
sional sums made in our letter of
July 3, 2014 is hereby withdrawn
and therefore no longer available for
acceptance by you," the letter stat-
ed.In addition to that letter, another
similar one was sent to Vinci on
October 22, from the chairman of
Nidco s Negotiation Committee.
"Nidco wishes to inform you that
after consideration of your proposal
and several conditional offers
received without prejudice, and to
all matters which have been pre-
sented in the process of negotiations,
and in particular. you offer to under-
take the works dated 30 July, 2014,
Nidco has concluded that it does
not anticipate arriving at an agree-
ment with Vinci Construction
Grands Projets on price for the exe-
cution of the contract," that letter
stated.
Vinci has already spent $10m
The Sunday Guardian was
informed that Vinci has already spent
approximately $10 million keeping
workers and equipment on standby
for this project which is already over-
due. The project was expected to be
awarded in July 2013.
Vinci, the Sunday Guardian
understands, has already done
groundwork and was ready to
mobilise when the contract negoti-
ations was dropped.
The Sunday Guardian was also
informed that if the tender is
quashed and restarted, Vinci will
not re-bid for the project because
of how this situation was handled.
However, the Sunday Guardian was
told that Vinci will continue to fight
for the project because of the massive
financial investments made in the
country in the eight years since its
first project.
Police not ruling
out thuggery link in
Tobago double murder
They could say what they want
Rambachan on Nidco, Lutchmeesingh:
Hubertus Keil and his wife Birgid.
DR SURUJRATTAN RAMBACHAN